Gut feel says the Sandersons are going to outperform the Rams Horns except maybe in the very low rpm ranges.  That same gut feel says the Rams Horns are going to be better than the ’57 & up cast iron manifolds but that will be verified in the ‘big’ exhaust test that’s coming up.  The Sandersons thus far with their smaller tubes do work well on the engine combinations thus tested.  But here’s a link to a 272 that was tested with the EMC headers and Rams Horns as that's the only Rams Horn test I have on file.

Exhaust Testing – 272 Y-Block

The torque differences in that test did not show a significant shift or advantage in a specific rpm range but the headers still outperform the Rams Horns generally in the whole of the rpm band in which both were tested.  I’ll add that if the heads are stock, then dual exhaust is likely going to be the best bang for the buck while manifold or header changes are not going to see the big differences that will be seen if the heads are ported or a much larger camshaft is being used.  As the breathing capabilities of the engine are improved or increased, then the need for a much better breathing exhaust system will come to the forefront.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

The horizontal axis is as large as the site will permit in being ‘500’ wide.  Although the graphs view fine on my end, I can only imagine the number of different monitor and viewing properties/attributes used by other YBF forum viewers.  Some better, some worse I’m sure.  I did have the option of using Photobucket or another hosting site which would permit a larger horizontal viewing but I’d rather these graphs were permanent to the site and also sized where the text is not rolling off of the right side of the screen.  Using an external host site leaves the potential for the graphs to eventually disappear from the site if the files at the host site are removed or renamed.

 

From a site loading standpoint, I do still have room to stretch the vertical axis on the graphs.  This would essentially make the graphs square; the Y axis (vertical) would then be the same size as the current X axis (horizontal).  If stretching the vertical axis would help the viewing, then I can do that on future graphs.  Just let me know.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Ted, thank you for posting these results.



Could I make a suggestion? Would it be possible to stretch the image of the graphs in the horizontal axis? That would make it easier to spot the differences in the curves.



Thanks.

Best regards,



Paul Menten

Meridian, Idaho

Really appreciate the tests.  Was wondering the comparison between the sanderson truck manifolds and the ram horns.  Do you think the ram horns would have done better on the engine you tested the sandersons on? I wanted to get maximal flow on my 272 but like the ease of routing on the ram horns.  Thank you.

Ted, I have a new set of Sanderson's for my 57 TBird that I purchased a couple months ago. They are still in the box and awaiting the delivery of Mummert's aluminum heads. If you want to test them let me know and I can ship them out to you.

57 Black Tbird 312/auto

Wow!  the Sandersons didn't do too bad, and I wanted to replace them.   These are the same type that is running on the Brick although this set came off of Steve Johnsons F-250 when he got a set of Mummert Ram Horns.  I am going to re-do the 1 3/4" headers that we made for the Brick last summer so the will work on the new Uni LSR truck but I may want those Sandersons back instead.

   God Bless.   Tim                           http://yblockguy.com/

350ci Y-Block FED "Elwood", 301ci Y-Block Unibody LSR "Jake", 312ci Y-Block '58 F-100, 338ci Y-Block powered Model A Tudor

tim@yblockguy.com  Visalia, California    Just west of the Sequoias

No need now that the size is cleared up. They seem to perform pretty well. I can't wait to see how they compare to the Red's stubbies and all of the others.

I chose Red's over Sanderson because the short and abrupt collector of the Sanderson just didn't look like it will work too well although it appears that the Sanderson header is mandrel bent (or use better tooling) whereas Red's is not.


Lawrenceville, GA

Here are pics of the various headers that were used in this particular test.

 

EMC headers – 1.750” X 1.875” stepped tubes with 3” merge collectors.

 

 

Chrome drag car chassis headers – 1.750” tubes with 3½” collectors.  Tested with 6” longer 3½” diameter collector extensions and also with 27” longer 3½” diameter collector extensions.

 

 

Upswept dragster headers – 2” tubes with 3½” collectors

 

 

Sanderson truck headers – 1½” diameter short length tubes with 2.375” collector openings.

 

 

Fenderwell headers – Circle Track specials, 1.750” diameter & long tubes with 4” collectors.

 

 

 Fenderwell headers – Drag car specials, 1.625” diameter & long tubes with 3” collectors

 

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Afraid I don’t have any Thunderbird specific headers here other than a very custom set supplied by Gary Burnette and those are a Tri-Y design and not a four tube design.  I’m still gathering up parts and pieces though for extensive exhaust testing on the 322” dyno mule with ported G heads.  This test will also include a variety of cast iron manifolds as well a myriad assortment of headers.  Parts wise, this engine is closer to what many Saturday night cruisers are running but the ported heads are expected to help quantify the differences between some of the systems that will be tested.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Charlie.  The Sanderson headers are on loan from Charlie Burns who might know more about their history or age.  From their looks, they’ve been around for awhile.  I’ve corrected the sizes for them above as they are 1½” tubes with a 2.375” collector opening.  I’ll post some pictures in the next few days of the various headers which should clear up some of the questions about them.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)